Christian Markle Straub

Christian Markle Straub (1804 – June 7, 1860) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania’s 11th congressional district from 1853 to 1855. He was born in 1804 in Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, to Andrew II Straub and Mary Eveline Walter. Little is recorded about his early youth, but his family background in Pennsylvania placed him within a region that was rapidly developing industrially and politically in the early nineteenth century.

Straub pursued a legal education, studying law in Pennsylvania and gaining admission to the bar. His legal training provided the foundation for a public career that would be closely tied to the civic and judicial administration of Schuylkill County. By the mid-1840s, he had established himself sufficiently in public affairs to be entrusted with important county offices, reflecting both his professional competence and his growing prominence in local Democratic politics.

In 1845, Straub began his formal public service as prothonotary of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, an office that combined responsibilities as chief clerk of the court of common pleas and custodian of court records. His work in this capacity placed him at the center of the county’s legal and administrative processes during a period of regional growth driven in part by the expanding anthracite coal industry. In 1849, he further advanced his local standing when he was elected sheriff of Schuylkill County, a position that involved law enforcement, the execution of court orders, and oversight of public peace and security.

Straub’s experience in county offices helped propel him to national office. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress, representing Pennsylvania’s 11th congressional district from March 4, 1853, to March 3, 1855. His single term in Congress occurred during a significant and contentious period in American history, marked by intensifying national debates over slavery, sectionalism, and the balance of power between free and slave states. As a Democratic representative, Straub participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Pennsylvania constituents, contributing to the deliberations of the House at a time when issues such as westward expansion and the future of the Union were at the forefront of national politics.

After leaving the U.S. House of Representatives, Straub continued his political career at the state level. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, first representing the 28th district from 1855 to 1856. He then represented the 7th district from 1857 to 1858. In these roles, he took part in shaping state legislation during a period when Pennsylvania was grappling with economic development, internal improvements, and the political tensions that paralleled the growing national crisis. His service in both districts reflected his sustained influence within the Democratic Party and his ongoing engagement with the concerns of Pennsylvania’s citizens.

Christian Markle Straub remained a figure of regional political significance through the 1850s, drawing on his legal background and prior county and federal experience to inform his work in the state legislature. He died on June 7, 1860, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War, at a moment when many of the issues that had defined his congressional and state service were coming to a head nationally. His career, spanning local, state, and federal offices, exemplified the trajectory of a nineteenth-century Pennsylvania Democrat who moved from county administration to the halls of Congress and back to state leadership during a transformative era in American political life.